Arcobaleno: Way of Life
by BlackCoat13
Summary: Chronicling the thoughts of the Arcobaleno when they meet up in the era of Decimo. Arcobaleno P.O.V.'s. Back story to their lives, their thoughts. Sequel to Lives of Lies?
1. Chapter 1

**Arcobaleno**

**Way of Life **

**I don't own Hitman Reborn. **

**Arcobaleno centric, Mixed P.O.V.'s. All Reviews are welcome. **

When Reborn met Tsuna the first time, he was secretly very, very surprised. Reborn recognized Primo in everything Tsuna did, was, and lived. Sure, he had read the detailed report on everything Tsuna had ever done, read, eaten, etc. made by the Vongola, but that didn't really include something only the Arcobaleno would have been able to see. Tsuna was actually something of a loner.

The first time Reborn saw Tsuna, it was a month before Tsuna saw him. He watched, followed, saw. (Occasionally lined Tsuna's head up with the end of the sniper rifle and considered a mercy kill.) But during that month of observation, Reborn started seeing things. They were thing he saw because of his paranoid nature, his experience as Hitman, and his time with Primo.

Reborn made a list of observations.

Tsuna himself did not see it, thinking he just had no friends because he was a loser. Reborn saw it. Tsuna unconsciously pushed people away. Reborn's thoughts were that Tsuna might be doing this because he had so little self esteem he thought it was a dark spot on others lives to be with them. Tsuna might be doing this to protect them from getting to close to him and his life within the mafia, something Tsuna's body recognized, even if the mind had not yet been informed.

Tsuna had little habits, like staring deep into a person's soul and trying to himself and their lives from their point of view. Primo did this to see how best to talk to them. Tsuna did this to evade danger and skirt around people who were perhaps a danger to him.

Tsuna had a strange habit of getting himself into troubling situations. Reborn figured he did this subconsciously. Perhaps it was to train himself? All in all, Reborn was not happy with his new student. Honestly, no matter how much of Primo Reborn saw in Tsuna, he was not impressed. In Reborn's books, Tsuna was about as soft as a pillow. Reborn needed something to work with before he started the actual training.

It was one day before Reborn was getting ready to snipe Tsuna in the head when he saw what made him change his mind. Tsuna was on his way to school, and klutz that he was, he walked into a group of bullies and dropped his stuff onto them. Reborn was getting ready to intervene when he saw something strange. Tsuna had fainted, but he was still standing. Reborn watched as Tsuna used hyper intuition to dodge their attacks, as he gathered his stuff together and then ran off. Reborn was watching when Tsuna woke up halfway to school. Tsuna acted no different after that. Rebron knew the human brain in Tsuna had just woken up, or had created new memories to fill in the gap.

Reborn watched. Tsuna's brain and Hyper intuition battled out what would happen. Hyper won, naturally. Tsuna avoided that spot the next day, where the bullies had lain in wait again. Reborn took care of them. Latent power laid in Tsuna, occasionally rising to the surface. Reborn was pleased.

Then came the big day. Reborn put the letter in Nana's box. Tsuna came home and Reborn watched. Tsuna acted slightly different that he should have, Reborn noticed. Hyper Intuition. All the Vongola Sky flame Bosses had held Hyper Intuition, but Tsuna's had the most potential by far. Reborn could work with that.

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As the days rolled by Reborn spotted more and more similarities. Primo had some very potent genes, it seemed. Reborn trained Tsuna, and kept observing. When Reborn started picking guardians he noticed that Tsuna had different ways to act around each of them. Primo had done this to keep his strange group together during their wars to establish the Vongola family. Reborn attributed this to the Hyper intuition. When the day Leon's tail had fallen off Reborn had noticed that Tsuna had been a little stressed. Hyper Intuition was powerful.

When Tsuna got his gloves, Reborn was not surprised, although he was a bit ticked. Training Tsuna in Primo's moves was going to be tough, considering only Primo knew his own moves. Reborn had helped train Bosses Terzo (Three) through Settimo (Seven). Settimo then trained Ottavo, who then trained Nono. Reborn had been around for a very long time at this point. But, since Reborn hadn't trained Primo he didn't know how to help Tsuna or anyone who could give reliable instructions for using the gloves. Tsuna would be mostly alone in figuring out his moves.

Reborn also helped trained Tsuna's guardians. They all resembled Primo's guardians too. Funny. Reborn also didn't know how to best train them. Shame. Reborn figured he really didn't have a large chance of messing up their teachings, seeing as they were all using older, simpler weapons. Really, the technology in the world hadn't changed much over hour hundred years. People just took that long to stop fighting medieval and switch to more reliable means, such as guns and bullets. That however, did not stop some such as Yamamoto from using his sword, or Ryohei his fists.

When Tsuna was able to beat Mukuro Reborn was slightly proud, but much more angry with himself. Reborn had not been able to get into a fight in a long time, due to the rules set by Primo (Whom hated when Reborn killed people) and the Arcobaleno. (Which limited his stamina) Reborn quickly trained himself to as far as the curse of the Rainbow would let him. Once he reached this point Varia decided to attack.

When Reborn decided to send out the rings to Tsuna's guardians he knew he was going to need help. He called in Colonnello on a favor they both knew didn't exist. Reborn didn't bother to train Lambo, knowing there was nothing he knew how to teach Lambo, having rarely ever met Primo's very own lightening guardian. Rain learned from an outside source. Storm was fine alone, but he sent in Shamal anyways. Cloud was a good opponent for Dino, Reborn's former student. Mist was by itself, as per usual. Reborn had no intention of training anyone who resembled Primo's Mist guard. Sun went with Colonnello, who knew what to do.

Reborn himself trained Tsuna. He also asked the convenient Basil, a sky flame and dying will user to help Tsuna. There was no way he could let the Tenth fail. To do such would let down Primo. Reborn would never forgive himself if that happened. Basil was told he was going to need to eventually fight Tsuna.

When Reborn decided to finally investigate this generations Varia, he was surprised to see that Xanxus was leading. That boy should know what was going to happen just by looking at the past. Ah well, Xanxus probably didn't pay attention in history class anyways.

Belphagor, the Prince. A dangerous foe, but Gokudera should be able to combat the prince. Lussuria? Royhei had this. Squallo? Reborn didn't know about that. Leviathan? Lambo was toast. Mammon? Rebon couldn't find any info on the mist guardian. Reborn also couldn't find any info on the cloud guardian, whom Varia usually hadn't ever had in the past generations. Ah well.

When Royhei won, Reborn nodded so slightly to Colonnello nobody but an Arcobaleno would have seen. When Lambo lost, Reborn blamed himself. Of course, nobody but Colonnello would have been able to see that. When the Cervello took Tsunas ring he was getting ready to shoot them all, but stopped when Colonnello shot him a look. Across the ring, Mammon considered why Reborn didn't just kill the group and let them all duke it out over the rings.

The next day Reborn finally put Basil into use, using him to fight Tsuna until Tsuna had enough control over his flames and will to fight. When Tsuna beat him, Reborn knew things were looking up. When Gokudera almost died fighting Belphagor, Reborn was really getting ready to kill the Cervello. Colonnello had to steal Leon from him for a while.

Yamamoto won. This is the only reason the Varia still exists, without Colonnello and Reborn killing all of them but Mammon, whom they interrogated until they figured out if it was really Viper or not. If it was Viper, they might have locked up the mysterious Arcobaleno. If it wasn't, they were going to kill the person, take the Mammon chain, and give that to Verde for processing. The two Spartan Arcobaleno had it all planned out. However, Yamamoto won, so this never happened.

When Chrome showed up, Reborn watched as Mammon decided to mess with them. Reborn watched as Mammon, decided to show Tsuna and his guardians something they could not see. Tsuna and co. freaked out, and yelled something about a kiss. Chrome, Ken, and Chikusa stood in the door, seemingly frozen. The moment passed and Mammon dropped the powerful illusion. Reborn dropped his awareness until he could see into the illusion and then chuckled at what Mammon had just done.

Across the room Mammon's mystic frog Phantasma blew smoke and stomped on top of Mammon's head. Reborn observed as Mammon got ready to fight the new guardian. Reborn's Pacifier glowed, and Colonnello swooped in. Reborn and Colonnello watched Mammon closely. They were very curious as to see if this was really Viper, their least seen Arcobaleno family member. "Looks like another stupid-looking idiot has joined you. I'll make you look even more stupid during this fight." Mammon told them. Reborn and Colonnello winced. If this really was Viper, the illusionist had regressed into insanity or stupidity. Or possibly this was to get them to underestimate him. Nothing was known about Viper, that is all that is known.

Reborn and Colonnello saw through all of chromes weak illusions, and most of Mammon's medium powered illusions. If this was Viper, the curse really stripped the illusion of a lot of power. It was about at that point, when Mammon removed his chain that Reborn and Colonnello's pacifiers glowed. Viper was Mammon. They both knew instantly Chrome had lost. They quickly explained to the group whom Viper was. Chrome attacked, then utilized snakes from the Path of beasts. It was at that moment that Viper was caught that Reborn noticed a little flicker in the corner of his eye. He focused on it.

When Chrome hit Viper with the illusionary fountain of fire, Reborn was able to catch the illusion in his eye. He didn't look away from it. Colonnello had seen as well now, and was searching for that tell-tale flicker. When Viper used his Flash Freeze move, but Reborn and Colonnello saw the truth hidden behind the lies. "What a mistake. I fell for the illusion, Hey!" "Me too. As would be expected from Viper."

For you see, it was not that they had fallen for the high power illusion of the Flash Freeze, but that they had been seeing an illusion from the beginning. Mammon had never existed. Instead, over on the side of the gym, close to the Vongola cage, stood Viper, a slight bit thinner than the illusion known as Mammon. Chrome was never fighting the real deal. Reborn and Colonnello observed from their peripherals. Viper's pacifier was glowing, and Phantasma was spinning around his head in a circle at high speeds. Viper was still going easy on Chrome though. If he was to really join the fight, no illusionist on the planet could win against the Arcobaleno, just like how the other Arcobaleno were equally unstoppable.

"An Illusion takes over your perception. In other words: It dominates your brain, which controls your five senses. The domination becomes stronger with the power of the illusionist, and the chance of falling for the spell increase. However, when an illusionist has their illusion countered by an illusion, it means they have given up control of their perception." Viper explained for Chrome and Tsuna. Reborn knew this well, as did Colonnello. They had both been in situations where they had been fooled for a while. Reborn had been tortured with great pain. Colonnello had lived in a fantasy world for three hours. They escaped and killed their foes, sure, but they knew the power of an Illusionist.

Viper snapped, demonstrating his control. Reborn and Colonnello did not see anything change, since they could see through the high level Flash Freeze illusion. Chrome however, cried out in pain. The skin on Tsuna and his guardians were hot to the touch, their bodies trying to fight something that did not exist. They had fallen for the spell, hard. In the hands of an illusionist like Viper, a medium level spell like Flash freeze could kill armies. Holding an illusionary double and using other high level spells like this were unheard of from anybody but the best illusionists. The group would try to fight the illusion, but really be picked off one by one from behind the scenes, never once seeing what killed them.

"How does it feel, the power of the cursed Arcobaleno? Now, show me your true form. No matter what you do, it's too late. You are already a denizen of my illusionary world." Viper told Chrome. Reborn shuddered slightly. Everybody was a denizen of Vipers world. He was the scariest of the Arcobaleno, even if reborn was the strongest. Colonnello wondered why the Varia would be insane enough to employ Viper, then wondered if they really knew anything about Viper at all.

Mukuro appeared. Reborn and Colonnello watched. Viper cast about five illusions at once. Things blurred around the gym, but Reborn refused to lose sight. But Viper turned and cast an illusion straight at him. Reborn could no longer see Viper. Colonnello stealthily nudged Reborn, pointed at a location, and then blinked rapidly in Morse. '_There.' _Reborn could see Viper again. Viper cast another illusion, this time on Colonnello. Reborn pointed at Viper and conveyed it to Colonnello. Mukuro watched while he cast his own illusions.

Reborn wasn't sure what the others saw, but he knew Colonnello and himself were the only ones in the cage who could see what was really going on. Both Mukoro and Viper were actually casting powerful illusions, sending illusionary doubles flying around trying to trick each other. The brains of Varia and Tsuna's groups would fill in any gaps in the hastily made illusions.

What was really going on behind the scenes varied between Mukoro, Colonnello, and Reborn. If they could discuss what was going on, they would be able to spot that they were really in an illusion of the highest caliber, but since they didn't dare, each saw a different tail. Colonnello saw Mukuro charging the flying Viper whom was throwing basketballs ineffectively at Mukuro. Reborn saw Mukuro on the defensive from Mammon's assault of mist flame reinforced paper attacks. Mukuro himself fought against a flying Viper equipped with a copy of his very own trident staff.

Viper however, saw Chrome running around with no organs and Mukuro super imposed over her body. Viper saw the Vongola family, minus the two Arcobaleno talking about one or two of her illusions. The Varia were just watching the show, knowing fully that they could not know if this was reality or not. Even Gola Mosca, a machine, was not seeing reality, but knew after running several checks in data banks and search engines that what is was seeing was not real. The two Cervello fully thought that what they were seeing was reality, and thus had not called Viper out on her foul play of not actually fighting yet. Tsuna, Gokudera, Royhei, Basil, Yamamoto, Ken, and Chikusa, Mukuro's pals, watched as Mukuro ran around battling Viper. Viper however, sighed as the sixteen people (Seventeen if you count Mukuro, who wasn't there in person) around her watch as her illusionary double, known as Mammon lost the fight with Mukuro.

Mukuro pulled out all the stops. He started casting his most powerful illusion, having figured out his opponent was an illusion itself after Viper had teleported out of a hit that the body double could not have evaded. Viper used even more power, and the second illusionary double spell stopped working on Reborn, who quickly showed Colonnello. There were two doubles, the one Tsuna saw, the one Mukuro saw, and the real Viper, standing where she was from the very beginning, inside the cage of the Varia, beside Belphagor. Mukuro cast his Columns of Fire, Wrapped in Lotus. Viper made the double cast an Ice World and Red Void, two of the higher level spells.

Beside Reborn, Tsuna's hyper Intuition went off, and Tsuna's mind was taken elsewhere. Viper cast Double Swarm, sending in tons of high quality illusionary doubles to hold Mukuro's attention, then attacking with Blue oblivion, a two pronged spell. Reborn recognized all these spells from battlefields he had shared with illusionists of high caliber.

Inside the bag, the real Viper handed over the ring. Mukuro was surprised. Reborn and Colonnello looked on, seeing through the illusionary bag. "Why?" Mukuro asked. "Because even though I will fight for Varia, I know that this is how it's supposed to be." Viper told Mukuro. Reborn smiled, and Colonnello was surprised their comrade was really one of them to that extent. They had figured Viper wouldn't care about their duties as Arcobaleno, unless it helped her escape their curse.

Viper let Mukuro out of the bag. Mukuro held up the two half rings, and cast a showy illusion of Viper being squeezed by Phantasma, then suffocated and exploding by Mukuro. Reborn and Colonnello smiled stealthily as Viper muttered "show off." to Mukuro as she stood by his ankle, totally invisible to everyone but the Arcobaleno.

All but the Arcobaleno and the Cervello were shocked at Vipers loss, not knowing of her secret betrayal to Varia. Viper cast a quick illusion when it was all over, of Mammon escaping out the window. Xanxus, in his chair, issued orders to Gola Mosca. "When this is over, kill Marmon." Xanxus told Gola. On the other side of the room, standing by Reborn, Viper glared daggers at Xanxus and plotted revenge on their leader. Maybe a naked Levi would do, or perhaps he'd get Lussuria to sing. Even drunk Squalo would do. (Viper of course, knows Squalo is not dead, because really, who didn't?)

Reborn and Colonnello saw her for the first time in their lives, because she had drained so much of her flames. Colonnello was giddy, realizing that Skull owed him fifty bucks and Verde two hundred. Reborn sighed as he realized he had lost twenty bucks to Lal. The only one to not have bet on Viper's gender was Luce, who probably knew anyway. (Viper didn't count of course.)

They both sighed when they realized they had no proof, and thus they would have to wait for another time to cash in their bets. Stupid illusionists.

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The next day Viper came and had a talk with both Colonnello and Reborn in Tsuna's room while he was gone. "You gave Mukuro the ring and let him show the others exploding. I didn't know you were a nice person, Hey!" "Don't go spreading it around. I only want money so I can retire." "Wouldn't you have enough money after around four hundred years?" "I'm saving for when the curse is broken, because until then, we won't be able to age. Who knows how long we'll live after that though." "You seem to think that this curse _will_ be broken." Reborn asked Viper. "Of course. Verde's had some headway." "You've been with Verde, Hey!" Viper spit out her drink, and Reborn smacked Colonnello on the back of the head. "Tact, you idiot." "What I'd say?" Colonnello asked as he rubbed his head.

"Anyways, Verde and I made the Mammon chain, which hides me from methods of detection. Several people have been after Fong and I, so we've gone into hiding. They call themselves the Gesso family. So far they're an unimpressive group, and if things don't get much worse over time, then they'll never be a major threat. But, none the less, Fong has been hiding in eastern Asia. I've been in Verdes bases with him for a good deal of time. My illusionary double, Mammon, has been with Varia, along with Phantasma, allowing me to direct Mammon. They have no idea that I've been the shadow leader, and Mist guardain of Varia for about four hundred years now, because I change my illusionary doubles name every generation and am careful with my habits and looks." Viper explained to Reborn and Colonnello. "Now, what have you two been up two?" She asked.

"I've been training sky flame leaders of the Vongola and allied families, occasionally performing hits, and once spending several weeks on the run from a powerful assassin who decided he should try to mess with an Arcobaleno." Reborn told them briefly.

"I've been with COMSUBIN, then the Vongola family, the CEDEF for a very short time, and then I was at Mafia land as a punishment from Lal for messing up one of her raids on another mafia. Reborn didn't tell you, but we met Skull there, and he's the military leader of the Calcassa family now." Colonnello told them.

"Were you there when…..Luce…." "Yes. I also took a day or two off thirty or so years ago to try to figure out how she broke the curse. I dug through their family history, and found some records. I still have no idea how Luce broke the curse of the rainbow, but there was a second curse on her, and possibly on us, if we break the Rainbow curse ourselves the second curse reduces our lifespan. Luce broke free… oh say…. Forty years ago. You know how she was pregnant up the mountain and we couldn't figure out if she had had the baby or if she was still pregnant? Turns out she hadn't had the baby, and it started growing with her. Luce gave birth about ten years before she died, and then passed on the pacifier to her daughter, who's named Aria. That Makes Aria in her late twenties or early thirties right now, just to let you two know."

"Wow, you've been busy, Maggot." Colonnello told Viper. "Very, but being able to be in two places at the same time also helps. I run myself, Phantasma runs the clone. I wondered for a while what you're animals all did. I know Leon shapeshifts and that Falco is disproportionally strong, but it would appear Verde's Caiman does nothing. Rather a shame really." Viper explained.

Reborn and Colonnello nodded. Viper was turning out to be a veritable fountain of information. "So, Mukuro. I need to know more about him." Viper told Reborn and Colonnello. "What, you thinking of getting revenge?" Colonnello asked. Viper shook her head no. "Arcobaleno trails will be coming up, dummy. Plus, I heard that he single handedly destroyed the last Estraneo family base. I'd not heard of this base, and If _I _hadn't heard of it, there might be others. I can't let them come back." Viper told Reborn and Colonnello. "What have you got against them, Hey? I know they're scum for what they've done, but you sound too angry to just want them dead off their reputation." "That's personal."

"So, tell me." "Mukuro is a powerful illusionist. He has incredible potential, and is pretty good right now even. He did see through your first layer, and occasionally get a glimpse of the real you. That's more than we can attest when we're not trying. He destroyed that outpost, decided he hated everything to do with the mafia, took over a man named Lancia, destroyed several families of scum mafia, and then eventually breaking out of a high security Italian prison along with Ken and Chikusa, whom you saw in the Vongola cage. He then came to this place, attacked a large number of Namimori high school students, captured Hibari, and sent Chikusa to fight Gokudera. Tsuna, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Bianchi the Scorpion, and I then went to go fight him. We took down some grunts, Yamato was injured by Lancia, Gokudera by others, Tsuna got lost in the woods for a while, where Mukuro asked him some questions. Ranking fuuta was also held hostage and pried for info, although he refused to talk."

"I take it Tsuna beat him, and that's how he got into Vendice? Then he staged another break out, and covered for Ken and Chikusa when he realized not all of them could get away? Impressive. Glad I made the right decision. He's not very loyal to Vongola though is he?" Viper commented. "I'm hoping there isn't a repeat of Daemon Spade." Reborn told them. Viper and Reborn had a moment of Silence while Colonnello realized he needed to sit down and read 'Vongola a history.'

"Did you know Verde sent two assassins after Tsuna?" "Hmm? Oh, that's what he meant when he said he needed a laugh a month or so ago? How'd you kill them?" "Didn't." "Really." "I guess." "Don't tell me you've gone soft, Maggot!" "Anyways, the next trail is Cloud. Any hints?" "Well, Gola isn't actually that tough. Any guardian on your side but lightening could take it down. But, he can take bullets and be fine, so the Varia has used him as a mobile shield that shoots rockets occasionally. But, seeing as he's the weakest of us, I have to wonder if there's a trick, or a trap to him. Who knows what goes through Xanxus's mind." Viper explained.

"So, you going to explain to us your hatred for the Estraneos?" "Doesn't their rap sheet explain it?" Viper asked. "Not to that degree." "Fine. The Estraneo's know more about me than I would like. If I could remove the threat they might give that info to someone who could use, say, the Gesso family, then they could actually track me down. Also, I have personal reasons to hate every one of them." Viper mumbled.

Someone could be heard running up the stairs, So Viper quickly cast an illusion over herself and Colonnello. Tsuna opened the door. "Reborn? Oh, Reborn, dinners ready!" Tsuna told Reborn. Reborn nodded and went down stairs. Viper and Colonnello glanced at each other before sneaking downstairs and stealing some food before leaving.

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Later that same evening, Reborn was training Tsuna with Basil. Reborn watched as Tsuna almost got hit with a fatal blow, and was thrown to the ground by Basil. Reborn applied punishment and motivation in the form of a uppercut. Tsuna mumbled something about Hibari's match. "Leave Hibari's match to Gokudera and Yamamoto." Reborn ordered Tsuna. After all, Reborn had confidence Dino had made Hibari stronger. "You should focus on completing this technique." Reborn told Tsuna. In actuality, there were several techniques, Like flying and then the Zero point breakthrough of Primo.

They trained some more. Tsuna was on the limit, but he announced he had figured out what the technique was for. 'Oh good, that makes one of us.' Reborn mused as he listened to Tsuna.

Meanwhile, In Italy, Lal Mirch was having trouble with a Gola Mosca unit, one of the Soldiers of the future. Iemitsu was sitting shot in the sewer ahead, staring angrily at a Impersonator of Vongola Nono. Hibari was just showing up at school. Tsuna was finishing his move.

Things happened very fast for the four Arcobaleno. Lal's group stooped the Gola Mosca, and she found out Nono was in Japan. Viper, Colonnello, Tsuna, and Reborn arrived at the school in time to see Hibari taking swings at Xanxus while Mosca's broken shell rampaged around the Area. Chrome ran into the landmine field, and was saved by Ken and Chikusa. A turret aimed at them, and Mosca attacked with a particle beam. Tsuna stopped both attacks in the nick of time, saved Chrome, ripped Mosca to shreds, and discovered an unconscious Vongola Nono in the shell of Mosca.

Reborn got out his gun. Colonnello leveled his sniper rifle and lined Xancus's head up with his red dot. Viper watched on, trying to figure out who's side she wanted to take. Lal got ready to go to Japan post haste, having realized things were about to get very interesting there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Arcobaleno**

**Way of Life **

**I don't own Hitman Reborn. **

**Oh hey. Look what it is.**

Reborn wasn't sure he'd ever been so mad. As Vongola Nono fell out of the smoking wreck of Gola Mosca, both he and Tsuna looked on the old man. He had a bloody hole in his chest, and his hair was wild and unkempt. "There's a man inside!" Tsuna called out for the guardians to hear. Reborn finally descided he'd had enough with the Cervello's rules and jumped right into the arena beside Tsuna to get a better look at the man he had served willingly and faithfully for at least seven decades, whom he had helped train personally.

"Eh? Why… is he inside Mosca?" Tsuna asked. Reborn wanted to know that as well. Somebody was going to explain, and everyone else was going to _pay._ Reborn knelt forwards to check Nono's pulse and flush the elder man's systems with his sun flames through his hands. Hopefully it'd be enough to stabilize him. If not he'd have to get him off the battlefield with the help of the guardians. How he hated being small.

But first, to explain to the others. "Che." Reborn practically spat as he touched Nono's temple. "I've seen Mosca's circuitry only once. It looks like the 9th boss was forced to be Gola Mosca's power source," Reborn announced. Dammit Nono! How'd you let this happen? You may be old, but you could've taken pretty much anybody in Italy still, right? Reborn wasn't exactly positive about that. It'd been a long time since he'd even considered old age. A very long time. How debilitating was it really? But even if Nono was weakened, he still had his guardians. He had all of the Vongola. He had _him!_ …But here he was, dealing with Nono's successor and there he was, half dead on the ground within close proximity of a hunk of high tech metal that'd held him prisoner.

"You've gone and killed the ninth boss." Xanxus informed Tsuna as he took a break from his dark chuckling. Tsuna immediately lost focus and began questioning himself. Reborn ignored them both and shot one final pulse of sun flame into Nono. The man jerked himself awake just in time to hear Tsuna uselessly lamenting.

"No. The one at fault… was me," Nono informed Tsuna. 'You're damn right it was Timotoe!' Reborn swore as he leaned back, breathing a sigh of relief. "We finally get to meet, young Tsunayoshi." Timotoe wheezed out. "I'm sorry. All this happened because of my own weakness. My weakness that allowed Xanxus to wake up from his long sleep." Reborn's head snapped up. He didn't know the full story even, and he wasn't supposed to know what he did, but here he was going to learn the whole story.

"What do you mean by sleep? After the cradle affair, Xanxus was cast out of the family and kept under strict surveillance by the Vongola. Wasn't he?" Reborn lied smoothly.

"Cradle affair?" Tsuna asked beside him.

"It was eight years ago- the largest coup d'état in Vongola History." Timotoe began.

"Because the rebel army was led by Xanxus, the ninth's son, this terrible truth was treated with utmost secrecy." Reborn informed Tsuna quietly. "The only ones know the truth are the family's upper echelon, and the highest Vongola elite who fought in that battle."

"Xanxus was stopped there, eight years ago. Since then, he's been asleep." Timotoe explained. 'Not just asleep. If he'd been just asleep, he would be eight years older that he is. That kid can't be more than fifteen!' Reborn thought to himself. "While his hatred and his grudge grew to frightening proportions." Nono finished off vaguely.

What was it with Mafia people and non-linear answers? Reborn thought hypocritically.

"Eh!? What do you mean?" Tsuna shouted in Nono's ear.

"What do you mean?" Reborn asked a moment later.

But it was not to be. At that moment Timotoe gave a great cough and spat blood onto the ground, giving a great shuddering breath.

"Are you alright!" Tsuna shouted. 'Does it look like he's alright?' Reborn had to refrain from shouting. "Please hang in there!" Tsuna girly screamed at Nono.

"Tsunayoshi!" Nono wheezed.

"Please take it easy!" Tsuna once again shrilly exclaimed.

"I've always," Timotoe began, but he had to stop and take another breath. 'I've always been hearing news about you, from Reborn, about the girl you like and your school, and your friends. You are a child with a heart that is really mismatched for a mafia boss." Nono admitted.

Reborn had to suppress another urge to say something that was not acceptable to come from his young mouth.

"I also know that up till now, you have never once fought in a battle willingly. You always have these lines between your eyebrows," Timotoe spoke as he brushed Tsuna's hair spikes away from his face, "clenching your fists as if praying. And that is why chose you to be the 10nth boss of the Vongola!" Timotoe exclaimed happily.

The tenth used the last of his sky flames to ignite his fingertip where it was pressed between Tsuna's eyebrows. A range of emotions shot over Tsuna's face, from confusion to nostalgia to wonder to acceptance. Reborn could only guess as to Nono was showing to Tsuna. But the old man's hand fell away, Tsuna began crying.

"I'm sorry, but I'm glad, it's you." Timotoe sighed as he collapsed, the last of his strength deserting him. Tsuna began wailing, trying to call the old man back.

"How dare you kill the ninth boss!" Xanxus cut in, hand to his chin, not even bothering to fake outrage. Reborn's blood flowed so loudly through his ears that Xanxus's whole speech was over.

"I will kill you, for vengeance!" Xanxus informed Tsuna. He said it like he was commentating on the weather, with no inflection what so ever.

'I tried to tell you Timotoe. This one is a bad egg. But you wouldn't listen because you thought you could tame the flames of _wrath_,' Reborn mentally berated the Ninth as he gripped Leon's pistol grip so hard he numbed his hand.

As Tsuna's guardians cried in outrage and confusion Reborn responded almost automatically to them. "If he only won the ring contest battle and became the next boss, those who knew of the Cradle affair would object to his succession and also continue to oppose him. But, if he trapped Tsuna into the role of villain , and attacked the ninth boss's enemy in a battle of revenge, that's a different matter. He would gain the absolute trust from the majority of the family. Besides, if he could prove himself stronger than Tsuna, who was supposed to be the tenth boss, it would further prove that he was the true heir. In that case, he could easily eliminate anyone who opposed him." Reborn reported back.

"Then Xanxus is planning to become the boss and establish a dictatorship at the same time?" Basil asked in outrage. That kicked Reborn's many years of experience back on, bringing him back to earth where he glowered at Xanxus.

'Yes. It was a well laid out trap. Mosca was supposed to kill all of Tsuna's guardians in an 'accident'. When that happened, he knew that sooner or later, Tsuna would come to take it down." Reborn explained, thinking on his feet.

"How could he?" Tsuna asked, tears falling onto the socks on his hands. "For something like that?"

"Please refrain from speaking such wild conjecture outloud, Reborn," One of the Cervello announced. "We will record everything that is spoken."

"Those guy's are!"

"I knew it! The Cervello are on Xanxu's side!" the guardians cried.

"Do whatever you want." Reborn announced to the Cervello cordially. "But my patience has run out!" He growled at them, shading his eyes with his hat. The two agents quickly quieted themselves. Good. They _should_ be scared of him.

"_But_ I will honor my promise to the ninth and not interfere. With my student's battle, that is." Reborn announced, allowing a smile to slide onto his face.

A moment later, a frown replaced it. Tsuna was cowardly, never doing things unless forced. Would he even fight Xanxus, even after everything that'd happened?

"Having said that, I don't know what my student, who hates fighting will do?" Reborn probed Tsuna.

"Xanxus!" Tsuna called, voice calm and stable. "I will take that ring back. You will not follow the ninths footsteps!" Tsuna called to him.

"Well said, Tsuna." Reborn praised as the two stared down Xanxus.

"I'll carve your name into the Vongola history books as the foolish runt who dared to defy Xanxus all by his little self!" Xanxus called back.

"He's not alone!" Gokudera called. "The boss's will, is our will!" the storm guard called as the troops readied themselves to come to Tsuna's aid.

("My will is my own," Hibari mumbled out vaguely.)

In response the Varia mobilized, anyone still able to move getting ready to fight.

Luckily or unluckily, the Cervello intervened. "Hold it right there, please! We will be in charge of the battle for the ninths revenge!" the Cervello agent explained.

"What!"

"We have a duty to oversee the whereabouts of the vongola rings." The agent explained.

Reborn snorted. Like hell they did. They had no idea the rings had even moved until they surfaced here in Japan with Basil being chased by Squalo. And even then, that's not your sacred duty, it's mine!

"The hell are you talking about!? You're all Xanxus's bitches!" Gokudera growled out. Reborn's opinion of the rash storm guard rose a fraction.

"Please watch your mouth!" a cervello agent snapped. Oooh, touchy? The other agent pulled out a decree. The sight of Timotoe's sky flame seal made Reborn cringe. "We have an official decree from the ninth himself! Any changing-of-hands of the rings will not be approved without our ratification!" The agent cried.

Where the hell did Timotoe find these dumb broads? Or for that matter, how did Xanxus know about them?

"You've got some nerve! You forced the ninth to give you that dying will flame seal against his will!' Basil cried.

"The winner of this battle will become the tenth boss of the Vongola, so we declare this the Sky ring battle!" The Cervello announced officiously.

"In other words, this will be the last of the sky ring contest battles held over the week. How does that sound, Master Xanxus?" The Cervello asked, dropping all pretenses of independence.

"Not a bad idea."

"Then tomorrow night, will everyone please assemble at Nami High?" the other Cervello asked.

Reborn hated that he was going to have to wait. But he recognized that Tsuna was tired out from his training from today. Also, he could use this time personally to send messages out. Also, if he had time, to kill all those pink haired cervello.

"It looks like the fake got a suspended sentence for now!" Belphegor cried out. Reborn was going to snap back at him until he realized something. The cradle affair had happened eight years ago. Bel had been in the Varia at the time. Bel is currently 16. So… Bel had joined the Varia at age 8. Well. That was… wow.

Xanxus snapped half the sky band at Tsuna, who (suprisngly) caught it. A moment later one of them threw a flash grenade, and they Cervello and Varia quickly split. Reborn waited for the others to notice Dino had arrived. Sure enough Basil noticed them. The Prancing horses quickly took the ninth and hurried him off to the hospital. "We're okay." Reborn informed Dino. "However…" Reborn announced vaguely as he observed Tsuna's shadowed face. A swift flying kick to the center of his back knocked him out of his brooding faze. "We're going home. You better get yourself properly recharged for tomorrow's fight!"

"Why do you have to kick me!"

"Because I'm really vexed right now!" And you're available and easy.

"What kind of reason is that!" The mafia kind, of course. Haven't you noticed? We're all clinically insane.

Reborn waffled through the day, saying what he had to to Tsuna, readying himself, forced Tsuna to go to high school when he himself wanted to go kill anyone whom he could remember ever being even vaguely associated with the ninths security detail. He'd be having some strong words with them when this was all said and done. Reborn witnessed Kyocho giving reborn a charm and call Tsuna's face a bullet train. It didn't make much sense to him either. Reborn spied on Tsuna from around a corner. He was having a good time with his friends.

"Don't forget this Tsuna," Reborn said quietly. Who knows, maybe Tsuna's hyper intuition was able to let him know. But these are the times he should treasure, the small moments with his family. Reborn sighed. He hadn't seen any of his family for a long time. And now that'd he'd come across four of them all at once, he wasn't sure what the world was coming to. Skull, Colonello, Viper. And Verde had sent those 'assassins' a while back to test out his optical camouflage. As school went out, they went to the hospital to visit Lambo. There Reborn unveiled his newest gift.

It was a special Armani suit. Leon had crafted it in his strange subspace shapeshifting stomach, and it was able to stand up to bullet fire, and more importantly, dying will fire. It was a great gift. In leon's strange wisdom, the suit was designed to look like Tsuna's namimori high school uniform. Also, Reborn informed Tsuna of the bonus Leon had made, but made sure not to unveil it. It was fun being vague.

"So you came, scumbag!" Xanxus shouted up at them. Reborn wished with all his heart he could simply shoot the bratty backstabber. It'd so much easier. Not to mention, cheaper. The vongola had to pay to fix up the school after all. Also, it would probably be cleaner. And more fun. Not to mention economical, understandable,

Wait. Calm yourself Reborn. Put the gun down. You made a promise to the ninth you wouldn't do this.

A stupid rash promise to a ninth that might not even have been the ninth, but a promise none the less.

Maybe one bullet through his eye would be good for him?

"We have been expecting you!" The Cervello cried as they leapt from a building. 'Jeez, why couldn't they just enter like normal people?' Reborn asked himself as he surveyed them from his third floor perch on top of the school. Reborn ignored them until he heard them mutter something about 'compulsory summons'. A quick glance down at the guardians nearly made him bust out laughing.

_"Viper's in a cage"_ Reborn sang softly to himself, repeating the unbelievable words over and over.

He might have deserved it when Viper very nearly sent him off the edge of the building with a surprise push form behind. The female Arcobaleno walked up beside him, standing on the ledge with him. Below she had taken the liberty of placing an illusionary copy of him.

"Next time ask before you place fake me's around," Reborn advised his sister as he gazed down upon them.

"Viper cannot be caught." 'Mammon' shot back angrily.

"Is that Lussuria?" Mammon asked as the bedbound man was rolled up by the Cervello.

"I think we need to hear this." Reborn decided before the two of them floated down to the ground level on psychic power.

"I thought you couldn't really fly anymore?" Reborn questioned as they moved closer.

"I can still hover and slow fall." Viper reminded him as she approached the Mammon copy in his cage.

Reborn carefully stepped into the fake silhouette of himself. Viper let the illusion go, and no body noticed his fake body suddenly becoming very real. Viper might've tried to climb into Mammon, but the cage looked locked up tight, so she ingored her copy instead and floated behind Bel's head. If he noticed her, he gave no indication.

"Lambo!" Tsuna cried upon spotting a Cervello holding the infant. Reborn's blood ran hot, and it was only Viper's hooded face reminding him to remain composure that prevented him from reflex killing the Cervello. He'd had lots of experience with helpless or even critically injured hostages. It was the first time he contact with a mafia family all over again. 'Hitman' had been brought into this world by a similar circumstance. 'Reborn' felt he too would be taken out of the world by a hostage situation. They were always so unprofessional, messy. Nothing about it usually came out right around him.

"Look at you Reborn, nearly shooting fellow Vongola's. What would Primo think?" Viper scolded him.

"Primo would forgive this. In fact, Primo probably would have killed her himself, whether she was in his family or not. Primo was no saint, despite how he acts." Reborn argued back.

"Oh I know. I would never have agreed to work with him if he was a saint. Saints aren't ever real. Can't be trusted at all. You know what I mean, right?" Viper asked as they observed the cervello and guardians talk.

"You worked with Primo?" Reborn asked in surprise. His most mysterious sibling had _always been in the Vongola with him, and he hadn't noticed?_

"So did you. It's no surprise. Then again, I was there before you were as well. I made the Varia by myself. I have been in the Varia this whole time. I have led this unit from the shadows since the very first Vongola." Viper explained. Reborn thought he caught a glimpse of pride in his sister's normally bland voice.

However, he wasn't going to remark, because she'd really beaten him out bad this whole time. He only hoped he could rub it in Colonello's or Lal's face that Viper had known where they too were this whole time. And Fong was _always_ vaguely 'somewhere' in China. Through forgetfulness or shyness or whatever, their martial artist brother had never left any one of them with an address or method of contact.

"In the sky battle, all rings as well as lives of the six guardians are at stake." The Cervello explained.

"Then what was the point of the first battles!" Reborn shouted at the girl, but Viper covered it up and smoothed it over. The guardians groused each other out.

"Caught you?' Reborn asked Viper.

"Shut up. I had to make them think of something, and Xanxus wouldn't believe I just came back. I swear, that kid is an idiot, but he knows people.

"You're a real smooth talker, Mammon." Reborn told his sister as Yamamoto questioned the Cervello about Squallo.

The Cervello went to collect Hibari's ring. "I lost it," He explained to them.

"That's a nice cover Hibari." Reborn approved, knowing Viper was still blocking his voice. "We've already collected it." The Cervello explained.

Then why did you go up to him like you wanted it in the first place then?

"One of the conditions of the battle will be to join together the two parts of the ring. However, the battle field will be the entire school." A Cervello explained.

"Fool! It's going to be so expensive to fix!" Viper complained. She looked like she wanted to kick the pink haired girl in the ankle.

The Cervello also gave each contestant a wristband. Mammon's band fell to the ground through the cage, but nobody noticed the deception. Viper picked it up.

"This is suspicious. I don't think I'm going to use it," Viper said as she tucked it away in her coat.

"Ah. Here comes bird boy and Shamal." Reborn observed. Sure enough Colonello dropped from the sky being carried by his bird, but Viper quickly let him into the illusion. Shamal wandered right by.

The teams were already dispersing to their respective fight locations. "I had better go," Viper announced as she headed to the gym.

The Cervello hit a button on a remote and instantly all the guardians let out series of pained noises or just stayed quiet. "A poison? How low, hey!" Colonello replied. Then the Cervello explained the poison 'Death Hitter'.

"When this is over, do you want to go Pinkette hunting with me?" Reborn asked Colonello casually as he rubbed an imaginary spot of dirt of Leon's gun barrel with a cloth.

"Sounds like a plan." Colonello answered darkly as he hefted his anti-tank rifle.

Reborn listened carefully for anything he could describe as the go ahead to shoot his dying will bullet. Xanxus watched closely as well. Reborn could tell he wanted to shut down Tsuna's opening. And the Cervello had stated in vague terms he was only going to get to shoot one hyper will bullet.

And Xanxus had the nerve to ask if he'd made it in time to stop Reborns bullet.

Reborn and his companions quickly evac-ed the field. If anyone was still there when the match began you could bet that Xanxus would use them to his advantage. Quickly Tsuna lay into the older boy with quick fists and flying powers, but Xanxus was even faster when he was fresh.

"No Tsuna, you need to get him up into the air! He's less mobile there!" Reborn muttered.

"There's no way Viper got poisoned, Kora. What's she doing?" Colonello asked.

"I'm here. We're in our own shut off conversation right now." Viper whispered in their ears. Reborn didn't bother to turn around, but Colonello swung instinctively and reached for his gun.

"Hey, she's not here maggot!" Colonello cursed in confusion. Reborn glared at the fatigue wearing army boy. Colonello didn't call him maggot unless he was really surprised or really mad at him, and those were the only two acceptable times. Ah well, he'd plot his revenge later.

"No I'm not really here. I'm standing by the Chrome girl and making sure she can keep her organ's up. I don't trust Murkoro to do it himself really." Viper transmitted to them telepathically.

"That's so weird, kora!" Colonello complained.

"Muu. Fine." Viper replied. A moment later Mammon joined them. Nobody besides the Arcobaleno noticed. "Speak to this if it helps you." Mammon told Colonello.

There was a loud boom, and a surge of heat. All three turned to look at the fight. "That's the flame of Wrath." Reborn commented for the benefit of Viper, whom might not be able to tell what was going on that well.

They all listened to Tsuna taunt Xanxus, listening to Tsuna ask him if he wanted to pit their flames against each other.

"He can't be serious!" Colonello cried.

"Just watch. Tsuna seems to have a plan." Reborn reassured the rain Arcobaleno. Sure enough, a moment later Tsuna's combination of hyper intuition and high mobile speed landed a solid blow onto Xanxus. The older boy was thrown into the reinforced concrete and it collapsed around him.

"Muu. Xanxus's isn't going to like that. From there he'll probably draw." Mammon informed the two.

"So explain to me really quick why you changed your name?" Colonello asked Mammon.

"Is now the time?" Reborn snapped as a concentrated shot of wrath flame emerged from the dust cloud and grazed Tsuna's shoulder. Too close! If it hadn't been for Hyper Intuition…

"I didn't change my name! I, the real deal, am Viper." Mammon explained. A sly smile crossed his face. "But my male illusionary counterpart is named Mammon. See?" Mammon asked. Sure enough, he was subtly more masculine than the real Viper.

Xanxus stood and emerged from the fire toting a familiar pistol with an X on it. "I thought we agreed with Ottavo Daniela to destroy those accursed pistols of her father Settimo Fabio!" Colonello yelled in anger.

"Still mad about that time Fabio upstaged you in guns? His pistols always were slightly more powerful than your rifle." Reborn teased.

"You're one to talk! If the X guns were stronger than my rifle, then they're also better than Leon!" Colonello announced. Mammon took a wise step out of the way of reborn wrath. To his/her surprise, Reborn did not take his legendary temper out on Colonello.

"Leon can turn into anything I want him to so long as it's not four times bigger than me. I'd say that's far more useful than just being able to shoot powerfully and fly like you and Settimo!" Reborn argued back.

"Well at least I can do both at the same time, unlike you or him who have to switch and then go back to flying!" Colonello pointed out.

"Muu." Mammon began, but was cut off.

"I still have other guns I can use!" Reborn argued back.

"Guys?"

"And what, break your arm firing?"

"MEN!" Mammon shouted at them.

Both quelled under her wrath. "Promise me you'll never say it like that again." Colonello muttered at Mammon as he turned to face the fight.

"Why not?"

"We've only just learned your identity and gender. I personally thought you were a guy. So it's a little creepy and weird at the same time to be called 'men' by somebody you still think of as a guy more than you think of as a girl." Colonello explained. Mammon slapped his head under his hood and sighed loudly. Her teammates were insane, and she still didn't have much social knowledge after all this time. She was busy leading teams of psychopaths for money after all.

Xanxus had just leveled his guns at the ground and fired off, enabling 'flight'. Tsuna preformed an awkward dodge and the fired shot from Xaxnus's gun went right into the gym. 'Mammon' shrieked and then flickered out of existence for a moment before rematerializing. The puppet was shoddily made this time. The coat was an unadorned black and the hood was down, revealing a perfectly round and smooth pale tan sphere. Two dark soulless inhuman pits took the place of Mammon's eyes, with pale purple flames seeming to burn inside his skull. Another flicker and Mammon was back.

"Ah. That surprised me. I almost got a direct hit. Made me lose all my concentration and fizzled my connection." Mammon explained.

"You're creepy without a face, Kora." Colonello announced as he picked his gun back up off the floor.

'I have a face! Xanxus just ruined my illusion!' Viper shrieked into Colonello's head.

"Don't bother Viper. A startled illusionist is never a good thing. And you should know better than to go around poking snake nests." Reborn quietly admonished Colonello.

"What if she really doesn't have a face?" Colonello asked Reborn in a hushed tone.

"I can hear you." Viper announced from behind Colonello.

Xanxus shot the poles holding up the Lighting and Storm poles.

"Muu, and my second Mammon clone made some really pitiful noises too." Mammon speculated as Xanxus ignored his mist guardian. "Ah well. Bel believes himself to be close to Mammon. He will no doubt come to 'rescue' Mammon. He will be waiting." Viper dismissed.

"That's even colder than Xanxus," Colonello mused. Mammon stared at Colonello for a moment before winking right out of existence.

"Colonello, be nice to your sister, or she'll kill you in your sleep." Reborn advised.

"Be nicer to your younger brother then, maggot." Colonello hissed at Reborn with rage. Vaguely Reborn wondered if it was something he'd said. Surely Colonello wasn't even worried about Viper actually killing him, right?

'I already have a brother. We're not family. We're… friends. Rivals.' Colonello argued with himself against his instilled unifying instincts.

'I'm not cold, I just have no one to really rely on. The only one who will watch my back is me. Everyone else is lying and thus, expendable. That's not cold, it's just good business.' Viper thought to herself as she hugged her knees in the gym.

'Touchy touchy. They can't seem to move on from their pasts. Not that I know anything about that. I just change my face and run away.' Reborn mused depressingly.

Bel was intercepted by Hibari. Gokudera quickly attacked Lussuria, preventing him from hurting Lambo. Gokudera broke Lussuria's parabola's, swiped the ring, saved Lambo, and moved out quickly. Hibari shredded the wires with chains and weights from his tonfas. Bel ran away to continue on saving his comrades. Across the field, Sanxus began to speed up, growing more accustomed to the high speed that Tsuna moved in. Training a bead on Tsuna, Xanxus unleashed two full clips of pistol ammo onto the younger Vongola. Taking a direct hit, the Armani uniform was destroyed, and Tsuna was forced to begin his zero point breakthrough.

Xanxus practically teleported in front of Tsuna, moving faster than he had in the entire fight. The harsh uppercut delivered with a gun barrel to Tsuna's chin sent him skywards. Instantly Xanxus was behind him. But his shot was dodged as Tsuna's hyper intuition warned him and his own anger sent the bullet off course. Tsuna landed heavily only to look up into another full clip barrage.

The resulting explosion was felt all over the entire school ground. Colonello dipped his head in respect for the dead. However, Tsuna was alive. In fact, he was now in excellent condition. Going into 'minus' state (point zero breakthrough) Tsuna was now running on a nearly full tank of flames again. But, Tsuna was still greatly hurt. He just wasn't feeling it.

Xanxus attacked, slipping right past Zero point breakthrough revised by shooting his gun sideways for a sideways movement while shooting with his other hands. The older boy whizzed around Tsuna like a tornado shooting as often as he could. Still through Tsuna took the blows. Xanxus stopped and unleashed a final blow, shooting a massive blast. But Tsuna was behind him, arm cocked back for a punch. He'd done it! Hand shooting forwards to grasp Xanxas' head Tsuna glared at the elder boy with a eyes calm. Xanxus swore and ascended, but the trick didn't work twice. Immediately Tsuna shot upwards, right into Xanxus's face. He was faster now. A punishing spinning kick threw Xaxnsus upwards. Xanxus was forced to land and shoot, but Tsuna threw a wall of fire at him .

"What the heck is going on! His movements are completely different!" Colonello exclaimed. Tsuna shot his hands forwards and stole away Xanxus's shots, stealing the power and converting it into his own flames.

Elsewhere Hibari fixed up Yamamoto and Gokudera woke up Ryohei.

**"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" **Xanxus swore at Tsuna as he pulled himself off the ground. The scars on his face elongated, forming a massive maze of scar tissue across his face. It was a dark ugly wound, like someone had run barbwire as thick as telephone wire over his face.

Yamamoto and Gokudera quickly proceeded to the gym. Viper watched apathetically as Bel and her clone formed a devious plan to get the rings from the Vongola guardians.

Squalo arrived in a wheelchair, two pistols on his head, led by Dino followed by his crew. Bel cured Chrome of the poison, and Yamamoto surprisingly showed a smart plan as he kicked his sword out at Bel, and then quickly arrived at Mammon, katana tip at the illusionist's eye level. Mammon of course, was fake, but one of the most convincing illusions available to Viper.

"It looks like the situation is reversed!" Yamamoto announced happily. Viper exerted only a little power before the tables had once again turned. In the space of a second three hundred (low quality) illusionary Mammon's floated freely in the gym, and he revealed he'd had them wrapped in an illusion since they entered the gym.

The Cervello brought Dino and Squalo to the observation box. Tsuna landed a devastating blow to Xanxus's face. Tsuna dodged the two powerful retaliatory shots and threw himself into a grapple with Xanxus. The resulting explosion threw Xanxus to the ground. The other panicked and Squalo looked pleased until Reborn felt he should intervene.

"Look at his hands." Reborn pointed out. They all noticed at the same time Xanxus did. His arms were encased in incredibly jagged ice, like he was wearing an ice Morningstar.

In the gym Mammon used his hell tentacle illusion to attack Yamamoto and Gokudera after he'd threatened to rip out Chrome's limbs with the powerful rope-like vines. And then Ryohei blasted in a wall with his fist, spooking Viper. Both Mammon and Bel disappeared, and Viper escaped as the walls came down.

Meanwhile Xanxus heaved and puffed in his rage as he glared at Tsuna, who only calmly gazed back. "Those scars are proof that you were once totally consumed by the zero point breakthrough over your entire body. You can no longer ignite flames on your hands anymore Xanxus. You've lost." Tsuna declared.

"And here I was thinking of what else you were going to say!" Xanxus laughed lightly. "You're fucking kidding me!" he yelled as he smashed the ice to pieces over his knees, shredding his hands and stabbing deep into his legs with the ice.

"It's useless Xanxus. If you keep doing that the result will be worse that those scars the ninth gave you." Tsuna told the elder boy.

"Then Xanxus was struck by the ninth's point zero breakthrough!" Colonello realized.


End file.
